Gus

7 Stories High

On a spring day of my 25th year, I took a detour to work.
I crossed over a few avenues and headed to an alley by a small deli. I peeked inside the deli and saw a man lying there. I immediately recognized the man to be Sidney.
I couldn't tell if he was sleeping or dead. I went into the alley and shook him a little. "Sidney? Sidney?" I whispered to him. He didn't budge or open his eyes. I stayed there, squatting on the dirty ground for a minute before taking a deep breath and standing up. I left the alley, purchased a bouquet of red roses from the deli next door, came back to the alley, laid the roses on top of Sidney, then continued my way to work.

**********
Over the years as a Scrubber, I stayed good friends with Ash, Carol, and Terence. Sasonbury noticed how we got along and organized assignments for us to go to together. One of the most eventful ones was when the four of us, along with another female co-worker, were assigned to clean a building a couple of blocks down from our building on the day I found Sidney dead.

"Where's this building again?" Carol asked when we left the building with our supplies.
"Just an avenue up from here," Ash replied.
"Fuck," spat Carol, "I hate 8th avenue. It's full of snobby, rich people who care about nothing except themselves and their fat ass cash."
"At least we don't have to talk to anybody there," Terence said, "just clean their windows."
"Still, that place is shit."

When we got to the building on 8th, Carol, Ash, and Terence took the north and east side of the building, leaving me to clean the south and west side with the other co-worker. I didn't talk to the co-worker at all as we silently washed the first five floors. However, once we got to the 7th floor, she abruptly asked me if I lived around here.
"Me? God, no. I live, um, on 2nd avenue."
"2nd avenue? You must not have a lot of money, then."
I glared at her.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I meant that... you know what, just... forget I said anything."
We silently continued wiping the 7th floor when she turned to me.
"I knew someone that lived on 2nd avenue once. She doesn't live there anymore, though."
"Oh, really, who was it? Maybe I'll know her, I've lived there my entire life."
"Tessa Hick?"
I paused. I turned slowly to make eye contact with the girl, when a sudden realization came to me.
"Kelly? Is... is that you?"
The girl cocked her head, then laughed. "No, I'm not Kelly, but I have a cousin named Kelly. That was Tessa's sister. Did you know either of them?"
A wave of disappointment rushed over me. "Yeah, I knew both of them."
"Tessa died, you know. In a fire on New Year's."
I paused again. "Yeah, I know."
Lie.

I never asked the cousin if she knew Kelly well enough to see if she could talk to me. I hadn't seen her in years, so I didn't know if she'd even remember me.
I ate lunch silently at the table that day. My mind was too distracted with thoughts. Terence noticed this and asked me what was wrong. I told him 'nothing.' He stared at me for a minute, then continued to eat his lunch.